Principal Architect, Public Library Software & Resource Sharing

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** Together we make breakthroughs possible.**#
** Why join OCLC
*** We know the best ideas don’t always happen at a desk. Take a walking meeting around our 100-acre campus or enjoy lunch on the patio. We’re committed to your success—both personally and professionally. Hybrid work environment:
For many roles, three days a week on-site, with occasional additional days based on business needs.
* Free use of our on-site fitness center, gym sports, group exercise classes, and game room
* Onsite catering and cafeteria subsidized by OCLC
* Health and wellness events
* Work environments with individual and team spaces and the latest technology tools
* Paid parental leave and adoption assistance
* Tuition reimbursement and Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility
* Company-subsidized pricing on local tickets and memberships

Join us in transforming how people everywhere access information and be part of a mission-driven team that makes a global impact. #
** The Job Details are as follows:
** The Principal Architect performs high level analysis and design of software programs and systems. Create, analyze, design, modify and test programs and systems. Architect and prototype systems.
** Major responsibilities:
*** Lead architecture for Public Library Software and the Resource Sharing domain: define target architecture, patterns, and standards for APIs, integration, data, search, and deployment.  - Translate business needs into high-level designs and practical implementation plans; produce architecture artifacts and roadmaps.  - Champion ideas and drive change — actively promote and advance strategic technical and product ideas, not just report on them.  

- Advocate for the business — balance technology leadership with a clear focus on business outcomes and user value.  - Drive modernization efforts (microservices, cloud, CI/CD, containerization, API design) and guide migration decisions.  - Design for non-functional requirements: availability, scalability, performance, security, resilience, observability, and operability across global deployments.  - Own technical review and governance — participate in and lead design reviews;

enforce architectural patterns and request/advise on exceptions with Enterprise Architecture.  - Prototype and validate new technologies (search, indexing, big data, caching, streaming) to accelerate product innovation.  - Work closely with Product Management to prioritize technical investments and articulate tradeoffs and risks.  - Provide hands-on technical leadership: design, code and review critical components as needed; collaborate with engineering teams to unblock delivery.  

- Mentor and coach engineers and architects; contribute to hiring, performance management, and technical career development.  - Reduce communication chaos — close gaps between teams, simplify messaging, and create clear channels for technical decisions.  - Own the big picture — provide high‑level architectural direction rather than micromanaging implementation details.  - Decisive yet empowering — make clear architecture decisions and enable teams to execute and make local choices.  

- Lightweight people management — provide leadership and mentorship without heavy managerial responsibilities.  - Collaborate with integrations, support, security, and operations teams to ensure smooth production rollout and ongoing reliability.  - Evaluate third‑party products, standards (NCIP, ISO, NISO, etc.), and vendor solutions relevant to resource sharing; represent the organization in relevant forums when requested.  - Ensure security awareness — embed security considerations into architecture and design decisions.  

- Operate effectively under ambiguity — make progress and adapt when requirements or technologies are unclear or shifting.
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* Minimum qualifications:

*** Master’s degree required plus 8 to 12 years experience at a high technical level of knowledge and experience.  (Equivalent experience without a Master’s degree is 10 to 14 years experience at a high technical level of knowledge and experience.)* - Demonstrated experience designing and delivering large‑scale, highly‑available, distributed web systems…